This mine in China is amazing, and these investments in automation will pay dividends in the long term with a shrinking population (the West better take notes). However, I enjoy being underground, in the thick of the action, getting down and dirty in the coal. That's one of the appeals of the Donets Black Coal Basin for me -- it's an odd mix of technologically advanced and very old fashioned at the same time.
Alabama's Warrior Met Mines are quite advanced, but not this advanced. Iron Synergy's Cumberland Mine in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania was experimenting with a fully automated longwall but I don't think they got this far, let alone with the belt censors and other areas of roboticization.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uImlzZUw5bQ&ab_channel=SouthChinaMorningPostNonetheless, even though some mines in China are amazingly advanced, many others are antiquated, particularly the smaller operations. So China, as well, has a mix of past, present, and future, like Donbas does.
The US and Australia are consistently present and semi-future in their underground coal mine technology.
